


Rather Reckless

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-26
Updated: 2008-08-26
Packaged: 2019-01-19 23:25:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12420393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: And Lily thought Hogwarts would be more peaceful without the Marauders... AU





	Rather Reckless

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

 

 

  
  
** Chapter One: Many Meetings **

 

  


 

It all began during the summer going into  
their seventh year when Lily was dragged out of her the bedroom by Alice.

 

 

“I need new robes, Lily.”� Alice said as she  
swished her wand around Lily’s room neatly stacking her best friends school  
books. 

 

 

“Don’t move that!”� Lily whined as Alice  
closed her Transfiguration text book that lay across the floor. Alice ignored  
Lily’s wasted pleas and continued her cleaning warpath.

 

 

“Reason five as to why you will never have  
a boyfriend. You are an absolute slob .”� 

 

 

Lily huffed and pinned her hair back as  
Alice grabbed her bag. “You are a terrible friend, I hope you know. Distracting  
me from school work so you can torture me with your frivolous shopping trips.”� 

 

 

“And today’s lesson is, shopping trips are  
never frivolous. They are always necessary with necessity.”� Alice nodded  
holding open the bedroom door for Lily to freely leave. “The necessity today is  
robes.”� 

 

 

“But we went last week for our supplies.  
You had the chance to get robes then,”� Lily reasoned as she searched through,  
and discarded, the recently stacked books around her room.

 

 

“For Merlin’s sake, Lily. I just cleaned!”�  
Alice sighed as stack after stack toppled in Lily’s search. “And for what are  
you destroying my hard work for?”�

 

 

“I could have sworn…”� Lily tapped her chin  
with a hand on her hip as she looked around her room. 

 

 

Alice pursed her lips. 

 

 

Lily took notice. “What?”�

 

 

“Reason twenty as to why you will never  
have a boyfriend. You are incapable of sharing anything,”� Alice said leaning  
against the doorframe.

 

 

“Completely and utterly untrue,”� Lily said  
distractedly as she wadded over to her windowsill. “Success!”� she smiled when  
the bobby pin lying there was shoved into her messy bun. 

 

 

“You’re determination and dedication is,  
unfortunately, unrivalled,”� Alice sighed. 

 

 

“Are you hungry? I think I’m hungry.”� Lily  
walked past Alice out into the hall. “Do you mind if we eat first?”�

 

 

“We can get something to eat at the Leaky  
Cauldron.”� 

 

 

“Argh. I don’t want a repeat of last week,  
Alice.”� Lily pointed her finger at Alice opening her fridge. 

 

 

“The odds of finding another thing in your soup are slim to none,”� Alice reasoned.

 

 

“True, but they are absolutely zero if I  
make my own lunch at home. Agreed?”� Lily smiled, shutting the fridge door with  
her foot. “Sandwich?”�

 

 

Alice flipped her hand and sat down at the  
table. “Why not?”�

 

 

“Good, I’m glad you’ve come around.”� Lily  
continued smiling as she took out the bread. “Why the big rush to get to Diagon  
Alley?”�

 

 

“I don’t know…”� Alice looked out the  
window.

 

 

Lily looked over her shoulder from the  
counter. “You liar! Frank is going to be there, isn’t he?”�

 

 

Alice shifted her feet. “He might have  
mentioned something about being there this afternoon.”�

 

 

Lily sat down across from Alice sliding a  
sandwich over. “So the letter  
thing is working out for you two?”�

 

 

“Well, I write and he writes back, if  
that’s what you mean. Like civilized, normal people.”� Alice replied rolling her  
eyes and began to eat. “Argh! What is this?”�

 

 

Lily smiled from behind her sandwich. “I  
have no idea what you are taking about.”�

 

 

“Very mature, Lily. 

 

 

“I try, and yes, I know.”� Lily continued to  
cut Alice off. “Reason number one hundred and sixty two as to why I’ll never  
have a boyfriend.”�

 

 

“I’m glad that you’re learning quickly. Can  
we go now?”� Alice brushed her hands off. 

 

 

Lily looked bewildered at her own sandwich  
and then over to Alice’s empty plate. “Are you done? I’ve hardly started.”�

 

 

“I’m on a mission, Lily. I have little time  
for trivial things.”� Alice grabbed Lily’s hand causing her to drop her sandwich  
(with a small whimper). 

 

 

“And eating is so trivial,”� Lily glared as  
Alice pulled her out into the front room. 

 

 

“It’s not like you haven’t eaten anything  
yet today,”� Alice reasoned pulling out her wand.

 

 

“You’re right, I had a quarter of a  
sandwich before we were so rudely parted.”�

 

 

“You’ll live,”� Alice huffed. “Are you  
ready?”�

 

 

Lily pulled her arm out of Alice’s grip.  
“No, I have to grab my wand from upstairs.”�

 

 

Alice rolled her eyes. “Fine, but hurry. I  
have to walk causally by Fortescue's in twenty minutes.”�

 

 

Lily waved her hand in recognition as she  
took the stairs to her room two at a time. She stopped in her doorway and  
frowned. Her room was messy, as usual. But it was a different messy. After  
Alice’s attempt at cleaning, Lily tried to reinstate her usual organized chaos  
to no avail. Her friend was much too impatience for Lily to reorganize. 

 

 

Now she had to find her wand. Which was  
somewhere under, over, inside, beside or behind something in her room. It had  
been the bookmark in her newly bought Charms book that was beside her bed under  
some socks, but to where it was now was a mystery. 

 

 

“Alice! Do you remember where you stacked  
my Charms book?”� Lily called downstairs as she began riffling though the pile  
to books closest too her. 

 

 

“No, I just clean! But hurry up!”� Alice  
called back. 

 

 

Lily blew a bang out of her eyes. “Can you  
summon my wand, then?”�

 

 

Lily never heard an answer but saw her wand  
shoot out of the opposite corner of her room and zoom out the door. Lily chased  
after it nearly tripping down the stairs. Alice was tapping her foot and  
holding Lily’s wand in one hand by the door. 

 

 

“Now can we go?”� She asked handing it back  
to Lily. 

 

 

“I think. Perhaps I should grab a jacket?”�  
Lily started for the closet. 

 

 

“Sure, I’ll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron.  
Apparate when you’ve found it,”� Alice snapped and with a POP she was gone. 

 

 

“Merlin, it was just in the closet,”� Lily  
mumbled pulling her coat out and followed Alice out with another POP. 

 

 

Lily appeared beside her friend in the  
courtyard out behind the Leaky Cauldron. 

 

 

“I’m still hungry, you know,”� Lily sighed  
looking longingly into the building. 

 

 

“No, you remember what happened.”� Alice  
tapped the brinks.

 

 

“I’m willing to risk it if it means me getting  
a full meal,”� Lily mumbled as she followed Alice. “Can I at least get ice cream  
at Fortescue's?”�

 

 

“I suppose I can allow that,”� Alice smiled  
linking arms with Lily. Lily  
smiled back but was jarred as someone pushed pasted them in the busy street.

 

 

“Watch it you, you tosser!”� Lily glared as  
the man who about a foot taller than her with tousled black hair cut in front  
of her. He ignored her comment and continued shoving through the crowd. 

 

 

“What the Merlin! Who does he think he is?”�  
Lily huffed as she pulled Alice behind her.

 

 

“What? What are we doing?”� Alice asked.

 

 

“Following him,”� Lily let go of Alice to  
gain some ground on the man.

 

 

“Forget it, Lily. He ran into you. He must  
have been in a hurry. Aren’t you hungry? I’ll buy you an ice cream!”� Alice said  
jogging to keep up with her. 

 

 

Lily continued to follow the man.

 

 

“Lily!”� Alice stopped walking and Lily  
continued to ignore her. 

 

 

“Alice?”� Frank Longbottom smiled, walking  
out of Fortescue's Ice Cream into the patio in front. 

 

 

“Frank!”� Alice forgot all about Lily.

 

 

“Oy!”� Lily said to the man she had been  
following. He stopped beside a table of people outside of Fortescue’s; Lily  
tapped him on the shoulder. “Who do you think you are just waltzing around the  
Alley like you own it?”� 

 

 

The three others sitting at the table  
looked up with half smiles at the man with messy hair who still hadn’t turned  
around. Frank Longbottom led Alice up to the table and stopped opposite to the  
rude man Lily was assaulting. 

 

 

“This is Alice,”� Frank smiled down at the  
brunette a few inches shorter than him. “Alice, you remember Sirius Black,  
Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter.”� 

 

 

They all stood up to shake her hand. Lily  
cleared her throat from behind one of the named men standing in front of her. 

 

 

Alice ran a hand over her face. “Sorry,  
behind you is my mate Lily.”�

 

 

The man in front of Lily turned around at  
this and smiled. 

 

 

“Sorry, I didn’t see you there. James  
Potter.”� He held out his hand.

 

 

Lily was fuming. “Did you not hear me  
before?”� 

 

 

James looked over his shoulder to the men  
at the table. “That was you?”� He smirked. 

 

 

“You arrogant, little —“

 

 

“Lily,”� Alice shot her a warning glance,  
“was just a little upset when you accidentally bumped into her.”�

 

 

Sirius, the man to James’s right, smirked.  
“She looks a little more than upset.”�

 

 

Lily continued to glare.

 

 

James walked away from his place in front  
of Lily to grab two chairs. He dragged them over and offered one to her. “If  
looks could kill, right?”� he said to Sirius. Both of them started to laugh  
hysterically (over nothing in Lily’s opinion), while Remus and Peter shot their  
own warning glances at their friends. 

 

 

Frank pulled out a chair for Alice. “How has your summer  
been, Lily? From what Alice just told me, you’ve still managed to keep your  
place at the top of the class even over the holidays,”� Frank smiled, giving his  
best “behave yourself”� glare at James. 

 

 

Lily loosened her killer stare at James and  
smiled at Frank. “Oh, you know. It’s just something to do.”�

 

 

Sirius hit James on the arm. “Did we even  
do any of our summer assignments? Ever?”�

 

 

James sighed. “Remus did,”� nodding in his  
direction. “Me, you and Pete? Never. I might have thought about it after  
getting my Head Boy badge, but that was as far I got.”� James started laughing  
again and Lily’s glare returned to him. James stared back with a mischievous  
glint. 

 

 

“I remember you, Red.”� He shook his finger.  
“Gryffindor Prefect, last year, yes? Always on time for meetings and rounds; a  
real role model.”� 

 

 

Frank smiled at Alice in reassurance that  
his mates weren’t idiots, but with their incessant laughter, both Alice and  
Lily knew better. 

 

 

“Really, uptight though. Bloody gorgeous,  
and you still are by the way, but with a wand up your arse. Still like that,  
hey Red? How’s that working out for you?”� James scratched his chin. 

 

 

Remus kicked his shin. “It’s lovely to see  
you again, Lily. Head Girl this year, I expect?”� He smiled his weary, worn-down  
smile.

 

 

Lily ignored Remus’s question. “I remember  
you too, James . How would you ever know if I was  
anywhere on time? You always showed up after me, or after everyone for that  
matter.”� She folded her arms.

 

 

“Daggers, Red. Pure daggers,”� James smiled  
sitting backwards in his chair. “Why don’t you take a seat, or will that stick  
get in the way?”�

 

 

Lily turned on her heel and stormed off  
towards Flourish and Blotts without answering.

 

 

“Oy, Red!”� James called after her.

 

 

“Very nice, James,”� Peter rolled his eyes.  
Remus left without comment to follow Lily. 

 

 

Frank sighed. “She’s Alice’s best mate.  
Could you at least pretend?”�

 

 

James ignored them with a wave of his hand.  
“As far as I’m concerned, I was being nice. It’s  
not my fault she’s easily offended. Hello, Alice.”� James smiled at her.

 

 

“James,”� Alice nodded almost coldly after  
what he did to her friend.

 

 

Sirius smiled at her as well. “It’s nice to  
see you, Alice. I’m glad Frank found someone to keep him in line, he was  
getting a little out of hand,”� Sirius winked.

 

 

Frank rolled his eyes, placing an arm  
around the back to Alice’s chair. “Pot, meet kettle,”� he mumbled to her.

 

* * *

Remus caught up to Lily as she entered the  
bookstore.

 

 

“You know, you never answered my question,”�  
he smiled.

 

 

Lily turned around and shrugged  
apologetically and began looking more closely at the books on the shelf.

 

 

“I’m sorry, Lils. He can be a little…”�

 

 

“Prick? Ass? Moron?”� Lily suddenly filled  
in.

 

 

“No… Marauderish,”� Remus’ smile grew  
wolf-like.

 

 

Lily scoffed as she walked into the next  
aisle. “That’s not even a word.”�

 

 

“It’s a personality, one he is taking too  
seriously, I’ll admit. But one that he’ll grow out of now that he’s out of  
school.”�

 

 

Lily looked over to Remus. “You have a lot  
of faith in him.”�

 

 

Remus shrugged.

 

 

Lily shook her head laughing lightly at her  
own thoughts of James ever growing up. “Thanks, Remus.”�

 

 

He slid a book off the shelf and flipped  
through the pages. “Any time, Lily. So excited to be Head Girl?”� he put it back  
on the shelf.

 

 

“How did you know?”� Lily smirked running  
her hand the books as she walked.

 

 

Remus put his hands behind his back and  
looked from side to side taking long strides as he followed her. “I have my  
sources.”�

 

 

Lily looked over her shoulder. “Alright,  
Remus Lupin, you can keep your secrets for now.”�

 

 

“And I intend to,”� he smiled as he passed. 

 

* * *

 

 

 

~~~While Lily was searching for her  
wand...~~~

 

* * *

“I expect this to be kept between us.”�  
Albus Dumbledore winked across the table.

 

 

James nodded curtly. “Yes sir.”� He turned  
to look at Sirius, Remus and Peter beside him. They also nodded in agreement. 

 

 

Dumbledore turned to Alastor Moody in the  
next seat and began to stand. “Then we have nothing more to discuss, I will see  
you all when the time comes. Keep safe.”�

 

 

The Leaky Cauldron was buzzing with  
activity around the table at which James, Remus, Sirius and Peter had been  
sitting with their former Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and Auror, Alastor  
Moody. A busy pub was not exactly the safest place to be holding a top-secret  
meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, but what people couldn’t see or hear  
didn’t bother them. 

 

 

The Marauders stood to leave but Dumbledore  
placed a hand on James’ shoulder that kept him seated.

 

 

“We’ll wait for you, Prongs.”� Sirius walked  
towards the barstools nearby, causing some wizards to look at them strangely as  
the three boys had just appeared out of nowhere and seemed to be speaking to no  
visible person. 

 

 

James waved them off. “Nah, I’ll catch up  
with you at Fortescue's. Save me a seat.”�

 

 

They nodded and went into the courtyard.  
James turned to face Moody and Dumbledore.

 

 

“Is everything alright?”� he began, jaw set. 

 

 

“Everything is fine, James We just need to  
discuss what exactly your role will be in the Order,”� Dumbledore said. Moody  
made a quick glance around the room, muttering something under his breath and  
finally, once all the security measures were past inspection, sat down again. 

 

 

“Sir, I already know what I’m supposed to  
do,”� James said, looking between them.

 

 

“This is in addition to your regular  
missions,”� Moody said gruffly. 

 

 

Dumbledore continued. “You will be working  
with Alastor at the Ministry as an Aurors. Primarily you will keep an eye on  
things and spot any leaks.”� 

 

 

“The Order already has Aurors at the Ministry, Professor.”�

 

 

Moody shook his head. “They’re Aurors  
first, Potter. Order members second. They’re blind to subtle corruption and are  
sworn to the Ministry.”�

 

 

James opened his mouth.

 

 

“Yes, Potter, I know that his members are loyal to him above everything else, but we’re talking  
about the better people in the Ministry. Those who have some sort of integrity  
and soul,”� Moody snarled.

 

 

“As you are a Potter, no one will question  
your late admittance into the Auror program. The only difference is that you  
will take orders from myself, and no one else. Am I understood, James?”�  
Dumbledore finished, folding his hands on the top of the table. 

 

 

James looked confused, still glancing  
between them. “But you know,”� he nodded towards Moody.

 

 

Dumbledore chuckled. “Yes, Alastor does  
know. But he is also an Order member first, like yourself. Do I have to ask  
again, James? Am I understood?”� He looked very seriously over the top of his  
half moon spectacles. 

 

 

“Yes, sir,”� James said without hesitation. 

 

 

“Excellent, James.”� Dumbledore, however,  
sounded less than excellent when he said this. “You continue to do the Order  
proud.”�

 

 

“Whatever I can do to help, sir.”� James  
said.

 

 

Dumbledore cast a sideways glace at Moody,  
“That was what I was afraid of,”� he said for only Moody to hear.

 

 

“I’ll see you on September first, Potter.  
Come alone, and constant vigilance!”�  Moody waved his wand and a hole opened up in the bubble surrounding  
their table. It sealed again once he stepped out leaving James and Dumbledore  
in the darkened corner of the pub.

 

 

“What a welcome you’ve received, James,”�  
Dumbledore chuckled. “A hasty induction into the Order because of a Death Eater  
attack and now this.”�

 

 

James frowned. “I’m not sure I know what  
you mean.”�

 

 

Dumbledore looked up from his folded hands  
and fought off an aging expression. 

 

 

“Nothing, James. Just an old wizard being a  
little sentimental. But you mustn’t keep your friends waiting.”�

 

 

James understood the dismissal and stood  
up. A normal buzz of chatter broke though muting veil that Dumbledore had  
placed over the area. 

 

 

“I will be seeing you soon, James. In the  
mean time, keep safe.”� Dumbledore nodded and walked up to the bar to speak to  
Tom.

 

 

James’ gaze stayed with Dumbledore until a  
dropped glass shattered on the floor beside him. He shook himself out of his  
thoughts as the patrons took out their wands to clean up the mess. James looked  
down at his watch. He and the rest of the Marauders were supposed to have met  
Frank Longbottom fifteen minutes ago. 

 

 

He rushed out of the pub and ran until he  
stopped in front of Fortescue’s, proud that he only collided with one person on  
the way. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
